Jazz

Thanks guys, I'll give it a hot wash and reuse it, thanks for your help.!

Hi guys, I have dug my Eheim 2213 filter out of the garage and am in the process of setting it up. It currently has eheim ceramic noodles on the bottom, a coarse filter pad, eheim substrat (sintered glass stuff) and a fine filter pad. The filter last ran for a few years using this stuff, and has been in hiding in the garage for the last year. Do I need to replace the sintered glass stuff? I looked at the eheim prices and nearly fell over, I could buy an entire chinese filter and media for the same cost! Is there an alternative to the eheim product? Where could I dig some up in AUckland, or even better online? I've seem some stuff called JBL micromec and JBL SintoMec at petsunlimited.co.nz, is this the sort of stuff?

Hi guys, I'm resetting up my 3 foot tropical tank after moving house and would appreciate advice on lighting choices. I currently have a twin tube tank light, however this uses 24w 2 foot tubes. I've been told that for a good planted tank the formula is .5-1w per litre, so I'm at half this level. Tight finances have constrained me from nipping out and grabbing a proper 3 foot twin-tube setup, however I spotted this on traveme and was wondering if anyone had an opinion? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=57058424 The seller says it uses readily available replacement tubes, so I'm guessing they are standard and not aquarium orientated. If I run both sets of lights, with a flora-glo and a sun-glo as my 2 foot tubes will this bring me up to scratch, so to speak? It will mean I have 96w of light, in a tank that is in the 170-190ltr vicinity.

I used to mix laterite into the substrate, with a good thick layer of gravel overall, I've played with CO2 before, but at the moment can't be bothered worrying about all the other things it influences. I'll try for a balanced planted tank and then add some community fish.

Coolnes factor eh? You mean I've found another hobby after cars and PCs that lets me add lights and bling?

Cool, sounds better than nuking the tank with chemicals, just found out the bulb is worth $50 or so, holding off means more plants

Also found a 5w UV light thing in one of the boxes, it has a busted bulb, is it worth replacing and setting up?

Hi guys, I've just gained a 3 foot tank, that comes with a dual tube light, its currently holding a life-glo and an aqua-glo. The tubes are over a year old so I will change them. Tank is not yet setup, but will be heavily planted, I intend to cover the rear wall in moss, probably christmas moss as it seems to be slow growing and more controllable than Java moss. Shall i replace the tubes with the same setup, or are their better options? Do I need to pay petstore prices or are these available elsewhere? Also the tank came with a UV kit, a 5w pondmaster that currently has a busted bulb. Are these useful in an aquarium? I always thought these were a pond thing. Is it worth replacing the bulb and setting it up?

Thank you Bluetom, I've read the name in other posts, I'll go have a look and see what it is...also read about people mixing it with fruitsalad? Talk about each hobby or clique having its own language

Thanks for your replies guys, the heater is a Tronic 200w, made in italy thing, this should suffice, but i gather I should get another as a backup? Also will the light work in a 3 foot tank, I went and unpacked it, its definately got 2 foot tubes in there while the tank is 3 foot, the tubes are a life-glo and an aqua-glo.

hi guys, please bear with me as I ask the usual bunch of newbie questions I've inherited my brothers tank setup, after about a year he got sick of it and passed it onto me. I kept tanks for years while I was at uni and just out, but not for a while now. The tank is approx. 36x15x18 inch, its in a rimu cabinet with a hood, a twin-tube light setup, a eheim 2213 external filter and a heater , unknown wattage as its all still boxed up in my garage. Now questions The light has 1 "fish" tube and 1 "plant" tube, I assume he's talking colour or wavelength, at a year old I will replace both of them. What worries me is that the tubes are only 2 foot long, there is a sizeable unlit gap at each end when it sits on the tank. Is this usual? I would have thought that it would have led to dark parts of the tank where growing plants would be difficult. Is the Eheim filter suitable for the tank on its own or is other filtration needed? I'm leaning towards a well planted tank with a reasonable number of basic schooling fish, danios, corys and anything else that will survive my best-intentions. Can I get dark graval or sand in Auckland? It came with a few kilos of light stuff that comes from the pet store and I don't particularly like it. Can anyone suggest a good aquatic store in West auckland or Auckland in general? Years ago I used to mix a red substance ?laterite? into the graval, is this still usual? Or has it been replaced by a more techno trendy substance? i've been doing a lot of reading over the last week, and my brain is overloaded, please mention anything you think I need to know, that I might have not inquired about. I intend to setup and plant the tank, and then add some of that "cycle" stuff and forget about it for a few weeks, will that suffice to break in the tank? many thanks, Jazz